


Another Story Must Begin

by gingayellow



Category: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-07-19
Packaged: 2017-12-14 20:23:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/841001
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gingayellow/pseuds/gingayellow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[Jin/Ryuuji, post-series AU] Because not everyone comes back from the dead with a mullet, sometimes it's just stubble and a lot of problems. [warning for a character dealing with depression, claustrophobia, and body horror]</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Title: Another Story Must Begin (1/2)  
Fandom: Tokumei Sentai Go-Busters  
Characters/Pairing: Iwasaki Ryuuji/Jin Masato  
Rating: PG-13  
Disclaimer: Not mine, anything mentioned here by name isn't mine  
Warnings: Characters dealing with Depression  
Notes: Post series AU, spoilers apply. The titles is not so subtly stolen from Les Mis, because lbr, Jin is Valjean (although that doesn't really factor into the fic itself)

"Good afternoon, J," Ryuuji said without looking up from his research. He and Kuroki has essentially adopted J after sempai had passed away, so it was hardly unusual to hear him thudding around his living room. "Do you need any help?"

"No." J made his pointer finger and thumb into a letter 'J.' "I am going to get Enetron."

"All right." He returned to trying to figure out a way to shorten RH-03's combi time, something that had been eating up most of his concentration for the week. In fact, he was so engrossed in his work it didn't occur to him that J had gone to the kitchen, not the garage where he kept his Enetron, until five minutes after J had left.

"But why would a robot need anything from my kitchen?" Ryuuji asked no one in particular as he closed his laptop. J was eccentric, yes, but his eccentricities had an underlying logic to them. There had to be a reason behind this, and suddenly curious, Ryuuji went into the kitchen silently.

"I do not care what he says, he needs vitamins. I shall take Ryuuji's vitamins-- they are both humans, it should work for both of them." J put the aforementioned vitamins in a canvas bag with a cartoon mantis on it. "I will also take this fruit. It is far fresher than anything I found at Kurorin's apartment."

"J," Ryuuji said in the same tone he used when Hiromu and Youko needed to think about their actions. "Why are you stealing things from me? More specifically, why are you stealing things from me that you don't need?"

"I have been discovered!" But J didn't try to escape. He didn't even let go of the oranges. "I shall not talk."

"I'm not mad, J, I just want to know why--"

"However, I would if I had not been told by Jin to keep quiet, so I was forced to order myself to do that."

"... That's not funny, J." Ryuuji placed a hand on the wall to steady himself. And J, of all people, should have known better. "Sempai's gone." It still hurt to say that out loud."

"I assure you, he's not." J put the oranges in the bag. "I was able to retrieve his body a month ago."

That would explain why equipment kept disappearing-- but no, he wouldn't believe it. He couldn't. "J, unless you can prove this, I have no reason to believe you."

"I can." J tapped his head, and turned to a blank wall, and...

There was sempai.

A taped image of sempai, but it didn't look like the avatar, or how he did before the incident. He was wearing a ratty blue jacket and even rattier jeans. He was thinner, his hair was longer, and messier. He hadn't shaved in awhile, long enough to have stubble. There were dark shadows under his eyes... but it was sempai. The brilliance and the not so well-hidden sadness were still there in those dark eyes of his.

" _Go get some coffee and rice with this_ ," sempai said as he gave some yen to the person behind the camera (almost definitely J). "That's all I can afford until I get paid."

" _I want to go to the park after I shop_." Yes, definitely J.

" _Okay, but only for a little bit, got it? I need to eat dinner. You may survive on Enetron, J, but I need food now._ " Sempai smiled, weakly, and then the recording finished.

As for Ryuuji, he had to will himself not to faint-- the quickly rising fury helped with that. "J, how could you?!" He leaned against the kitchen table, just barely resisting the urge to smash it in two. "You know what sempai means to me, to all of us, and you keep him hidden--"

"Once again, Jin asked me to keep it secret."

"... But why?"

"For the first time in my life, I am unsure of something concerning Jin." J sat down on the kitchen floor, knees drawn up to his chin. "But I was told that if I told anyone, he would run away, and I could not tolerate that."

"Believe me, you're not the only one." He crouched down next to J, his anger fading as he processed this new information. Sempai was alive-- but he wanted to stay hidden. "But please understand, I need to hear sempai himself tell me that."

"Understood. This is why I chose to make my mistake with you, Ryuuji." He about to ask J what he meant... but of course. J couldn't say anything, but he could 'tip someone off,' for lack of a better term.

Ryuuji smiled. "You really are the smartest Buster, J."

"I have known that since I was created, but I am happy that you have finally discovered that."

"Yes-- and you can help me." Ryuuji stood up, opened his pantry, and grabbed anything he could carry. He was getting paid Friday; he'd be fine. Right now, he just wanted to take care of his sempai.

\--

The apartment was not sempai's style. At all. The building looked fine, but it was very bland, conforming nicely to the city landscape. It didn't appear remarkable in any aspect, and Ryuuji had trouble believing that his sempai would choose to live here. Then again, if his grocery list amounted to only coffee and rice, perhaps there hadn't been a choice.

He stopped at the front door, and willed himself to stop shaking. He knocked, taking care not to introduce himself first.

There was a long pause, and then the door creaked open, revealing sempai.

Sempai, who looked at him with huge eyes. "Ryuuji."

He grinned as much as he could, given the circumstances. "Hello, sempai."

"... I can't. I can't, I'm sorry." Sempai ducked his head, hair obscuring his face. "Ryuuji, I'm sorry, but go away." He shut the door.

"Sempai." Ryuuji took a breath. He had to be the strong one this time. "J accidentally told me that he'd rescued you."

"Pfft. 'Accidentally,' my butt," came sempai's voice from behind the door. "I should have known something was up when he said he was gonna frolic at the park all day."

"Well, I hardly stopped him," Ryuuji admitted. "Didn't you wonder why J had all that food?"

"... I figured J had found some really good deals."

"For 500 yen?" Ryuuji placed a hand on the door. "Sempai, please understand. I'm not asking to be let into your new life." As much as he wanted to be. "I just need to know that you'll be safe here."

"Ryuuji..."

"Just an hour. That's all I need. Then I'll never bother you again." And the thought of that terrified Ryuuji, but sempai was more important.

He took a step back as the door was opened. Sempai looked horrible, but he was smiling. "Okay. Even I can manage that. Come in, Ryuu-chan."

\--

"Do you want some tea? I think I got the stuff for that in the kitchen."

"Can I have iced tea?"

"Oh, right. Sorry, nearly forgot about your weak point. Any yeah, I got some ice."

"That would be lovely, thank you." As sempai exited the room, Ryuuji looked around. The place was cluttered, but not to the point where one would feel uncomfortable. What did make Ryuuji feel uncomfortable, however, were the spare parts gathering dust. The bookmarked engineering texts shoved into a corner. It was sempai was trying to be like how old self, but giving up half-way.

"Hey. Here's your tea." He gave Ryuuji a plastic glass of tea, then sat down next to him on the loveseat.

Ryuuji took a sip. "Thank you."

"No problem. And I don't mind, by the way."

"I'm sorry?"

"You being in my life." Sempai mussed his hair. "I didn't mean what I said earlier, Ryuuji, I just kinda panicked." He took a sip of his own tea. "I just... I need some time to clear my head. To not have to think about everything I did... or didn't do."

There was so much Ryuuji wanted to say, to make it clear that no one blamed him, but if he did that, he would lose sempai's trust. "We'll always be here for you, sempai. All of us."

"I know." Sempai sighed unhappily. "It's both the thing that keeps me up at night, and what keeps me going."

Ryuuji kept himself from reaching out to open his bag. "Well, maybe I can give you some more things to keep you going."

Sempai frowned. "Ryuuji, you've helped out enough, I don't--"

"Think of it as a thank you gift for the books."

"The books that I bought you with your own money?"

"Shush, sempai." Ryuuji took out the DVD player. "J said that you had a TV, but no cable. I thought this might help."

"Wow." Sempai took the play, inspecting it carefully. "These things are always getting tinier, aren't they?"

"Seems so. But since it'd be useless without DVDs... I have seasons three to six of _Star Trek: the Next Generation_." He placed them on the dilapidated coffee table. "It's something to help you pass the time, at least. And I know you like it."

"Damn." Sempai bit his lip. "You know my weakness for Star Trek."

"I grew up in the 90s, of course I do. I have one more thing." Ryuuji reached into his sidebag.

"Okay, no. Ryuuji, there's lending old TV shows and then there's buying someone a laptop."

"It's mine. Was mine. I upgraded so I could keep up with work, so this one has been gathering dust. You don't have to take it, of course."

Sempai was clearly tempted-- and that temptation won out as he booted up the laptop. "Well, guess it can't hurt to look."

Ryuuji sighed in relief. "It's wireless, so you can connect to the internet."

"I don't get out much, except for work." Sempai shrugged. "Doing odd jobs pays bills and rent, and sometimes food. I don't think I can afford internet."

"Actually, you can." This was probably going to blow up in his face, but oh well. "J and I set it up. I'll pay the bill, so please don't worry about expenses."

Sempai didn't get (visibly) angry, but he did give Ryuuji a pointed look. "I thought that you were only going to be here for an hour to make sure I was really alive, and that you definitely weren't going to try and contact me further."

"I-I know, but I was so worried, and I thought you were dead while you were here all along, and--"

"Ryuu-chan, breathe. And try not to cry, okay?" Sempai patted his cheek. His hand was warm, and real. "Sorry." He smiled. "I missed teasing you. But hey, why not use the internet while I'm resting up? I've been trying some side projects, but I just can't concentrate."

"Definitely. And in that case, I also brought you a cell phone-- which I'm paying for as well-- and the password to the email account I set up for you. And a gift card to your local grocery store."

Sempai gave him a lop-sided grin. "Are you absolutely sure you're not my mother disguised as my kouhai?"

"Fairly sure." Then he saw sempai glancing at his watch. "Is my hour up?"

Sempai was still grinning. "Your hour was up three hours ago, Ryuuji. I guess we both wanted to catch up."

He didn't want to say it, but... "I have to go. I have work."

"And I apparently have three seasons of Star Trek to watch." Sempai walked Ryuuji to the door. "Are you gonna tell the others?" He looked painfully vulnerable.

"I want to, but no. You need your space, and I'll make sure you get it." Ryuuji put on his shoes. "But thank you for letting me in your space."

Ryuuji stilled as sempai patted his cheek again, but it was gentler than before. Almost longing. "Ryuu-chan, you're always welcome. Always. I'm just, well, you know." He smiled sadly. "I don't think I have it in me to visit, but I'll email. And try to call. I promise."

"I'll check my inbox everyday, then." Ryuuji stepped out the door. "Sempai, I'm glad you're safe."

Sempai's lips twitched up before shutting and locking the door. "See you soon, Ryuuji."

'See you soon.'

That was better than 'good-bye,' but not by much.

However... sempai was alive. He was safe. He just needed time to recover emotionally as well as physically.

Things weren't perfect, but they were okay, Ryuuji realized as he began to walk home. He had waited thirteen years to rescue his sempai. He could wait a little longer.


	2. Chapter 2

Warnings: Characters dealing with depression, claustrophobia, and body horror. 

Notes: Post-series AU, spoilers apply. There are a LOT of Star Trek: TNG references in this fic, but you don't to be familiar with it to read this, I think (although it does contain spoilers for 'The Offspring,' fyi. And yes, Jin's poor typing skills were intentional. ;P idk, I just see him as the type to type quickly/in long, run-on sentences.

\--

_Jin took a breath to steady himself, and for the first time in what felt like forever he entered EMC again. "I'm home."_

_Everyone was there, but Youko was the first to react, shooting him an ugly look. "Why did you even bother."_

_"Because I missed you guys, and I--"_

_"So you missed the people you lied to, over and over, to defeat Messiah." Youko stomped over to him, jabbing him hard in the chest with her pointer finger. "Or was it to save yourself? After all times you manipulated us, I'm having trouble keeping track."_

_"Youko-chan--"_

_Suddenly, Hiromu was in his personal space. "You said we could save my parents. Save everyone." His eyes were dark with fury. "I was willing to forgive you because you died, too. You paid for your sins. But now," and he grabbed Jin by his shirt collar. "It turns out you did manage to save your sorry skin after all." He shook Jin, hard, letting him go so Youko could shove him just as hard._

_Then someone hit him. He didn't get a good look because his hair was getting tugged, but it had probably been Youko._

_Jin didn't fight back, of course, because he deserved all of it, but he couldn't stop himself from calling out for Ryuuji, just once._

_"You should have stayed away, sempai." Ryuuji eyed him coldly from Kurorin's desk. "We don't want you anymore. We never did."_

The only thing that kept Jin from screaming when he woke up was the shock/annoyance of seeing J in his room. "So you're watching me sleep now?" Jin tried to sound as gruff as he could.

"I am watching you sleep to protect you from nightmares."

"You're doing a lousy job." Jin stood up, stretched, and began to roll up his futon. "So, what're your plans for the day?"

"I will go to the park. But first, I have prepared you pancakes for breakfast."

"Real pancakes?" He started poking around his room for clean (ish) clothes. "How did we afford that?"

"Ryuuji gave me some money while I was stealing food for you."

Oh. Right. "You really shouldn't have taken that, J." He walked to the sink, splashing water on his before he examined his reflection. He need to shave, because that stubble was starting to become a full on beard, but whatever. Maybe tomorrow. He hadn't slept very well. "We don't need Ryuuji bailing us out every time we get in a scrape.

"I steal from Ryuuji only because I care for you, and also I am following your example. Imagine how sad Ryuuji would be if there was no one stealing from him."

"If you say so." He started to get dressed. "I'm fixing the AC for the lady who lives next to us." After that, he'd have enough money to pay rent. He was gonna have to 'forget' the electric bill for awhile, though. "Can you at least try not to attack that mantis on the slide without me there?"

"If my rival demands a battle, I shall be forced to oblige."

... Why did he even bother.

\--

Breakfast went quickly, since they both had to leave soon, but Jin had to admit, the pancakes were really good. He was gonna have to thank Ryuuji-- once he got up the nerve to talk to him again.

Appetite suddenly gone, Jin forlornly stabbed what was left of his breakfast with his plastic fork. It was wrong, ignoring the others like this-- especially Ryuuji, who despite having every reason to rat Jin out, hadn't. And sometimes, after work or when he couldn't sleep, Jin would consider going back... but then would come the questions. And the demand for answers. And having to look them all in the face when he'd survived but their parents hadn't.

"Jin." J looked at him over his Enetron. "It wasn't your fault."

"Oh, so you think you can read my mind now--"

"I have known you all my life, I may as well be able to read your mind." For a robot with no means to make facial expressions, J could look really pissed when he wanted. "And you did what you could."

"Tell that to Hiromu and Youko-chan," Jin said as he stormed out the door.

Then he popped his head back in a second later, when he realized what he'd said. "Don't actually tell them, I was trying to prove a point, that's all." Then he was gone.

J stared at the now shut/locked door. "Curses, foiled again."

\--

It was just a closet. A small closet, but still just a closet.

It wasn't the tube J had kept him in while he was rebuilding his body.

He wasn't going to wake up, trapped, with half his body still data while J was assuring him that he'd be fine, but J had to go now to retrieve more data, so please be calm, please don't cry--

"Thanks for fixing my AC, Jin-san." Wakaba patted her belly. "With kid number three on the way, I don't think I could have managed much longer with this heat wave."

"It is pretty intense." He hoped Ryuuji was keeping cool. "Hey, do you mind if I leave the door open while I work?"

"Knock yourself out." Wakaba trotted off, fanning herself. "That's actually a really good idea. I'm gonna open the front door and hope a breeze comes in."

"Thank you." He was glad when she was gone, so he could sag against the wall in relief.

This was still going to be really stressful, but he could manage, as long as he had an exit.

\--

Thanks to panicking on the job and finding J trying to rip the park mantis's head off when he came to pick his Buddyroid up, Jin was willing to bet that this had been the worst day he'd had since being brought back. "You." He gave J a look after unlocking the door. "Sit on the couch, and think about your life." J scoffed, but obeyed. Jin suspected it was because he had a full can of Enetron to drink.

Which left Jin with nothing really to do.

He'd worked, and paid his rent. He was currently teaching J a lesson. He could try reading some of those engineering texts he'd checked out... but lately he couldn't concentrate if he read more than a page, and he wasn't in the mood for being frustrated.

But he still had no idea what to do before dinner.

Bored/curious, he opened up one of the DVD sets Ryuuji had left for him. He hadn't watched one yet, because he still felt guilty about Ryuuji having to save his ass yet again, but he liked Trek. A lot. And it'd been years since he'd watched an episode. 

Well, what could it hurt.

"I want to know what I will be watching with you," J asked as Jin plugged in the DVD player Ryuuji had bought them, then opted on the season three DVDs.

"We are watching the best science fiction franchise of all time." Jin plopped down next to J. He skimmed the episodes before finally settling on 'The Offpring.' It was a really good episode, even if it was sad-- but that was okay, he wasn't really the type to get emotional over television.

\--

Jin dabbed at his eyes angrily as the credits rolled. What the **hell**. He'd never cried at this before, but now he'd wound up blubbering-- twice.

"You are not covering up your tears with jokes," J observed.

"Because you don't joke when someone loses his daughter!" Jin snapped back, before grabbing the roll of toilet paper he'd made J fetch when he first started tearing up. 

"I do not understand. No one has lost a daughter. These are all pretend people, Jin. I and you are real, not them."

"Yeah, but--" Maybe this was something J couldn't quite understand-- or maybe as someone who'd lost a loved one (albeit temporarily), he was making an active effort to not understand. Either way, it was time to change the subject (and hopefully, stop crying). "What did you think of the episode, J?"

"I think that Data is a fool."

He was gonna regret this, but... "How come."

"Data is a robot. Therefore, he is superior. He should be the leader."

"You're a robot, but Kurorin was the leader at EMC," Jin reminded J.

"Or so I led you to believe." J stroked his chin, then went into the kitchen. "Dinner will be ready in an hour. I will be having three cans of Enetron, and you will be having miso soup."

"Okay." Jin huffed, and put on 'Ménage à Troi' for background noise before turning on his laptop. He didn't use it much, since he had yet to find anything to catch his attention, but he checked his email every day. And sure enough, there was a nice long message from Ryuuji about his day, just like every other day since he'd first visited.

Jin meant to reply. Really. But he didn't know to say, so he'd put it off for an hour, then another, then one more, until finally it was way too late to write.

And yet Ryuuji kept writing to him, faithful as ever.

He didn't want to talk about what had happened. Jin knew that much. And for the first time in his life, he didn't want to talk about engineering-- it would just be a reminder that he couldn't concentrate on what had been his passion anymore. But... he had really liked that Trek episode, even if it'd made him crying like a baby...

Jin opened up a new draft, typed in Ryuuji's address, and didn't bother with a subject line.

_hey i finally got around to watch the trek episodes you gave me, we watched the one where data has a baby (lal), and i cried SO HARD at the end. ;;_

After he hit 'send,' Jin felt foolish. Even Ryuuji would find it obnoxious, and-- oh, hey, Ryuuji had already responded.

_It is very sad. :( Although I found it more compelling when I watched it again while raising Youko-chan._

Without really thinking, Jin replied _oh i see because you had a kid or your own (lol), yeah, that makes sense, hey how about when troi TOTALLY TOLD picard off gotta admit i laughed at that._

A minute later, _I definitely felt for Troi in that scene_ was in his inbox.

\--

"Jin. Dinner is ready."

"Already?" Jin didn't even try to hide the disappointment in his tone.

"Yes. And you are well aware of my rules." He pointed the soup ladle at Jin. "No books or technology other than myself are allowed at the table during meal times. I will make sure that you will fully enjoy both the nutritional value and flavor of my cooking."

"Whatever, Mama J." He quickly typed _g2g xoxo_ before closing his laptop and joining J.

The food was pretty good, though. He hadn't enjoyed just eating decent food in awhile. Even J seemed to be happier than usual. 

Jin knew why, in his case at least. But he didn't say anything. Feeling even a little better was something to be treasured. He didn't want to risk ruining it by saying it out loud.

\--

Around bedtime, however, he sent another message to Ryuuji. _thank you SO MUCH for those dvds, ryuu-chan. it was the highlight of my day, and reminded me why i like it so much (although kirk is still the best!!!). i'm gonna skip 'best of both worlds' for the obvious reasons, but i thought i might skip to 'captain's holiday' (vash is such a babe, i'd totally marry her in a heartbeat, what is WRONG with you picard._

Ryuuji replied back with a long list of what Jin should watch next when he finally got to season four, reminding him that 'Data's Day' and 'The Drumhead' were excellent, but avoid 'Devil's Due.'

 _got it, and thx, it's been years since i watched trek, damn if i remember even half of it._ He grinned, a thought occurring to him. _i guess we're in this this together._

He took a break to change for bed, and when he returned to his laptop, there was a new message. _Yes, we are, in every sense of the word. I have to sleep, but please feel free to email me with any Trek-centric commentary (or anything, really) tomorrow. Good night!_

"You're too good to me, Ryuu-chan." He replied with _sleep tight, kouhai xoxoxoxo_ before turning the laptop off, and crawling onto his futon. He was exhausted, but in a good way.

He stretched before falling into the deepest sleep he'd had in ages.


End file.
